Are Web Sites a Suitable Disclosure Outlet?

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the answer is…maybe.  The SEC’s new interpretive guidance states that posting material information on a corporate Web site may satisfy Regulation FD, but that the facts and circumstances of each case must be weighed first.
 
According to law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, several factors must be determined before a Web site can be used as the sole means of disseminating material information.  These include:
 

• whether the Web site is a recognized channel of information distribution;
• how, where and when the information is posted and becomes broadly accessible to the public; and
• the Web site’s capability to meet the “simultaneous or prompt” timing requirements of Regulation FD’s Rule 100 as well as the Web site’s capability to meet reasonable usage demands.
  

 
At this point, it’s probably a safer more shareholder friendly bet to continue utilizing the wire services to disclose important information.

— Laurie Berman, Senior Vice President, lberman@pondel.com